The NBA Academy Africa is a basketball team and academy operated by the National Basketball Association (NBA), located in Saly, Senegal.[1] Opened in 2017,[2] the academy offers both education and basketball trainings.[1] Several alumni of the program have played in professional leagues. The academy is a shared program between the NBA and SEED Academy. The academy has two indoor training courts, as well as dormitories and educational facilities.[3]
Since 2022, the academy has a program called BAL Elevate with the Basketball Africa League (BAL), that allows each BAL team to select an academy player to feature on its roster during the season.[4] A year earlier, in 2021, Mohab Yasser became the first academy player to play in the BAL and also the first player to win the league championship.
For the following 2023 season, the NBA Academy enrolled its own team in the Road to BAL qualifiers where they played against professional teams.[5] Despite being ineligible to qualify for the BAL, they finished with a successful 2–1 record, after beating Burundian champions Urunani and Kenyan champions KPA.[6][7]
In November 2022, the NBA Academy Africa fielded the following roster playing in the 2023 BAL qualification.[8]
The following list features players who have played for a professional club or have played in their country's national team:
Ibou Badji (2018) – signed with FC Barcelona B in Spain; later became the first NBA Academy Africa graduate to play in the NBA properly due to him playing for the Portland Trail Blazers on December 26, 2023.
Kurt-Curry Wegscheider (2019) – plays for the Central African Republic national team and NCAA college basketball.
Mohab Yasser (2020) – first academy player to play in the BAL and to win the championship during his time with Zamalek. Yasser also plays for the Egypt national team. Babacar Sané (2022) – plays for the Senegal national team and was the first academy player to sign in the NBA G League in 2022.[3]
Ugonna Onyenso (2022) – youngest player ever to debut for the Nigerian national team and a commit for Kentucky in 2022. Thierry Serge Darlan (2022) – starter for the Central African national team.
Ulrich Chomche (2024) – became the first NBA Academy Africa graduate student and the first Basketball Africa League player to get selected in an NBA draft by being selected 57th in the 2024 NBA draft. Chomche was traded to the Toronto Raptors via the Minnesota Timberwolves.The NBA Academy Africa has faced off against several national champions in the Road to BAL. They enter in the Elite 16 round, and as a wild card, are not eligible to advance to the semi-finals or to qualify for the main league season.
